Clarkstown GOP levels 'disloyalty' charge at blogger

A New City woman who blogs and comments on political issues is the latest Rockland County Republican to face a "disloyalty" charge and possible expulsion from a local party committee.

Jeanine Vecchiarelli says she has no intention of showing up for a hearing planned by the Clarkstown Republican Committee for Wednesday, calling the gathering nothing more than "a kangaroo court."

In a letter dated April 16, Bob Axelrod, chairman of the Clarkstown Republican Committee, tells Vecchiarelli there will be a hearing "to consider charges against you."

They "include disloyalty to the party by you attacking a Republican candidate in March 2014, and inciting a campaign against him. This charge is grounds for removal of a committee person from office," Axelrod states.

Asked to comment, Axelrod said Friday that while he didn't feel good about removing Vecchiarelli from the committee, "I do believe it is necessary."

He has written to executive committee members asking them to vote for her removal.

It will be the third such hearing held by Clarkstown Republicans since 2011, when GOP candidate Ralph Sabatini was called before the committee because he went to a Democrat's fundraiser. The process against him was halted after he gave his side of the story.

In 2013, Clarkstown Councilman Frank Borelli did not attend a disloyalty hearing called after "secret tapes" purportedly showed him trying to cut a deal for the benefit of a Democrat at the expense of a Republican. Borelli, who denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime, was removed from the committee.

Vecchiarelli said she expressed her opinion about — and against — attorney Duncan Rogers Lee II when he was running for an Upper Nyack village justice post last month.

Lee is also the attorney in a defamation lawsuit against bloggers Michael Hull of Bardonia and Anthony Mele of Chestnut Ridge, frequent critics of the status quo and some politicos, including Rockland Republican Party Chairman Vincent Reda and his protege, County Legislator Frank Sparaco.

Vecchiarelli says Lee is therefore complicit in the effort to block the First Amendment-protected free speech rights of the men — and by extension all other bloggers, herself included.

"They want to silence people," Vecchiarelli said. "They want people to be looking over their shoulder."

Lee could not be reached Friday, but regarding the lawsuit has said there are limits to what a person can say even when a case involves a public figure, and freedom of speech and the press.

In his letter to the executive committee, Axelrod said he tried to get Vecchiarelli to be a team player and discuss her concerns within the party, but she insisted on taking them public. He said she finally crossed the line "by bashing" Lee, calling him "treacherous" and saying that he disgusted her.

"She doesn't even know him," Axelrod wrote. "This is the same person, we all know, who gives so much of himself selflessly. It's ridiculous. He's defending, not suing. Whose rights are being violated? He's doing his job as an attorney."

Vecchiarelli posted to the Save Our State — New York Facebook page, calling Lee "a good and reliable lap dog of county GOP 'chairman' Vinny Reda." She said Lee had been building brownie points within the party to land a judgeship, going so far as to file the lawsuit against Hull and Mele on behalf of Reda and Sparaco.

Lee also represents Republican Clarkstown Highway Superintendent Wayne Ballard and a local businessman in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs allege the bloggers have gone too far in their criticism, mixing opinions with facts to give the impression the officials have been committing crimes.

Hull and Mele deny any wrongdoing.

Vecchiarelli's Facebook post was in reaction to a request by Axelrod to the party faithful that they get out and support Lee in his justice race, which he later lost. Her post includes a photo illustration showing Reda dressed as a cowboy, with a "baby" Lee cradled in the gun holster against Reda's hip.

She also says Lee demeaned women due to a drawing she says he shared on his Facebook page that offers an illustration called "The invention of the word Boob," something she said was out of line for a person looking to serve as a judge and that she does not support. The drawing has the words "top view" for the "B," "front view" for the "oo" and "side view" for the "b."

Also in his letter to the executive committee, Axelrod asks for support to kick Vecchiarelli, an elected committee woman, out of the committee.

"Jeannine will continue her attacks but it cannot be as a member of the Republican Committee," he wrote. "Therefore, I need a vote of recommendation to remove her or not. If yes, then I will send her a letter to appear before us."

On Wednesday, Vecchiarelli is welcome to represent herself at the hearing.

In his letter to her, Axelrod wrote, "This is not a trial, and therefore, you are not entitled to be represented by an attorney. If you fail to appear, the executive committee will make its decision based on the testimony presented to it. However, you will have this opportunity for a fair and impartial hearing."

Last summer, Sparaco released audio and video tapes that he secretly recorded. They purport to show Democratic Clarkstown town Fleet Manager Dennis Malone and Borelli offering Sparaco a better-paying job if he dropped his support of Ballard in the November highway superintendent election.

Sparaco works for the town Highway Department and has successfully used absentee ballots to help sway third-party elections, resulting in coveted secondary political party lines in hotly-contested races. Critics like Hull and Mele have accussed Sparaco of using his influence to land himself a patronage job now paying more than $75,000 a year.

Malone has filed a defamation lawsuit against Sparaco, Reda, Ballard and Axelrod, who led a news conference to "reveal" the tapes, saying the men have falsely accused him of attempted bribery. Lee is representing Reda and Axelrod in the case. Borelli has also denied any wrongdoing.

Weeks after Sparaco released his tapes, the Clarkstown GOP Committee expelled Borelli on a disloyalty charge on the grounds that he worked against Ballard and helped Malone, as well as attempted bribery and attempted office corruption.

Borelli has not been charged with any crime.

Sabatini was brought up on similar disloyalty charges in 2011 after attending a Malone fundraiser.

That same year, Sabatini faced off against incumbent Democrat Alex Gromack in the Clarkstown town supervisor's race. Sparaco openly supported Gromack, who beat Sabatini. Fliers showed images of the men together at locations in town, and the headline touted the two men as putting party politics aside to work for Clarkstown.

Last week, despite being a Republican, Sparaco sent an email on behalf of the Rockland Independence Party touting the upcoming celebration of the party's "man of the year," Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe, a Democrat.